Hartford, CT (July 17, 2015) – With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, eight state employees have reached a class-wide settlement with several state officials and the Connecticut State Employee Association (CSEA)/SEIU Local 2001 union that protects their right to opt out of paying dues for union politics. The agreement covers 215 state workers and ensures that employees who resigned from the union and objected to paying dues for union politics but did not have their objections honored will receive refunds pursuant to the terms of the agreement.

In Connecticut and other states without Right to Work laws, employees can be forced to pay union dues or fees to keep their jobs. However, the Foundation-won Supreme Court precedent Chicago Teachers Union v. Hudson established that nonunion civil servants are due certain procedural protections of their right to refrain from paying dues or fees for activities unrelated to workplace bargaining, such as union political activism.

Teacher Union Lawyers Threaten Sanctions in Legal Challenge to Contract that Sold Out Teachers for 10 Years of Forced Union Dues

National Right to Work Foundation staff attorney attacked for brief calling out contract to circumvent Right to Work protections for teachers in exchange for pay cuts

Taylor, Michigan (July 15, 2015) – Staff attorneys at the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation have responded to a motion for sanctions filed for the American Federation of Teachers Local 1085 union.

The motion for sanctions was filed after the National Right to Work Foundation filed an amicus curiae brief in a case involving Local 1085 in which union bosses have been found to have unlawfully rushed into a 10 year forced-dues “union security” contract with Taylor School District after they offered major concessions, including a 10% pay cut for teachers, in a separate monopoly bargaining agreement.

In December 2012, Michigan workers gained new workplace rights when Michigan passed a Right to Work law. Fearing the loss of their forced-dues funded power, Local 1085 union officials entered into a standalone 10 year compulsory unionism agreement and a separate monopoly bargaining agreement in January 2013, hoping that the forced-dues contract would fall under the “grandfather clause” of Michigan’s Right to Work law, which did not take effect until March 2013.

IATSE union officials unsuccessfully attempted to use bureaucratic hurdles to have NLRB toss out worker’s petition to remove the union as monopoly bargaining representative

Atlanta, GA (July 8, 2015) – Workers at the Golf Channel will get to vote on whether or not to remove the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) union as the monopoly bargaining representative for technicians who produce golf tournaments and other programming for the channel, which is part of NBCUniversal and Comcast (NASDAQ:CMCSA). With free legal aid from the National Right to Work Foundation, Golf Channel employee John Gallagher filed a petition requesting a decertification election with the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) regional office in Atlanta, and the petition was granted on July 6 after a two day hearing demanded by union officials.

Gallagher collected the necessary number of signatures from his fellow employees, and filed the petition on June 12th. IATSE union bosses responded by demanding a hearing to try to block the vote from taking place, and asked the NLRB to dismiss the petition on technical procedural grounds. According to the union claims, Gallagher’s petition was tainted because he failed to submit a “Statement of Position form” and a “statement of procedures form” as required by the NLRB’s new convoluted “ambush” election rules that took effect in mid-April.

However, the NLRB Regional Director sided with Gallagher, and agreed that it was a technical oversight, because the union suffered no harm when it did not receive the two forms from Gallagher, but it did receive them from the Region. Thus, Gallagher’s petition was deemed valid.

On May 12, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty filed an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief defending Wisconsin's recently-enacted Right to Work law on behalf or four Wisconsin workers. The brief was filed in response to an International Association of Machinists (IAM) union lawsuit challenging the Badger State's recent labor reforms in Dane County Circuit Court.

However, IAM union lawyers are now asking the court not to accept the brief. Responding to this union attempt to silence the viewpoints of pro-Right to Work employees, National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys and the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty have now filed another brief with the Court, this time rebutting the IAM's attempt to keep the four Wisconsin workers from defending their Right to Work law.

Fairbanks, AK (June 22, 2015) – National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys filed federal unfair labor practice charges against Teamsters Local 959 on behalf of bus driver Scott Bracy who was illegally fired from his job for not paying forced dues and fees to the union. Charges were also filed against Bracy’s employer, First Student Management, LLC.

The charges, filed with the National Labor Relations Board, state that Teamsters union officials failed to follow U.S. Supreme Court-required procedures while demanding payment from Bracy, a dispute over which union officials eventually had First Student fire Bracy. The charges also state that Teamsters officials are seeking an illegal assessment.

As an employee of First Student, Bracy worked as a school bus driver in Fairbanks, Alaska. Teamsters Local 959 union officials have a monopoly bargaining contract with Bracy’s former employer. Because Alaska has not yet passed a state Right to Work law, workers can be forced to pay fees to a union as a condition of employment.

Nurse Wins NLRB Settlement Against Union for Illegal Policies Designed to Infringe on Right to Resign

NRTW Foundation staff attorneys asking NLRB to inform other nurses of settlement through union email system to avoid keeping them in the dark about their rights

Olympia, WA (June 16, 2015) – The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a unilateral settlement between United Food and Commercial Workers Local 21 (UFCW 21) and Sandra Dickson in response to unfair labor practice charges filed by National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation staff attorneys for Dickson.

Dickson worked as a registered nurse at Providence St. Peter Hospital. She was not a union member, but because Washington is a forced unionism state, Dickson was required as a condition of employment to fork over a portion of her paycheck to union bosses for so-called “agency fees.”

On December 29, 2014, charges were filed with the NLRB against UFCW 21 regarding an illegal “window period” restriction in the current collective bargaining contract and a requirement that workers provide their social security number in order to exercise their Beck rights to object to paying for activities unrelated to bargaining. “Window period” restrictions limit when union members can resign their membership, contrary to US Supreme Court precedent that union members have the right to resign their union membership at any time, for any reason.